Revolt against the Heavens

Boss Gui herself was a bit disturbed by the situation. Weiji Nian was being restrained on the ground by her bodyguard Miss Wo. But Weiji Nian was the niece of a great general in the Nalupu Kingdom army. To treat her in such a way, she had to have very good reasons. Unfortunately, she had no idea what was going on here. At the very least, Weiji Nian had tried to assault an alchemist she was allied to so she could easily justify Miss Wo's reaction. However, she had to get to the bottom of things. Even as a City Lord, she couldn't just wave this situation away. On the other hand, she really didn't want to lose Cao Yun as an ally. After all, he had already helped her quite a bit, and he knew things about her.

If worse came to worst, Boss Gui might even be forced to get rid of both Weiji Nian and Cao Yun in order to protect herself. In fact, Cao Yun was able to see that Boss Gui was thinking of many outcomes that wouldn't be good to him at all. After all, she was known to be ruthless and her ambitions were too grand to be thwarted by anyone. Cao Yun was absolutely certain that she would kill anyone in her way, even her most faithful servant.

Thankfully, Cao Yun had seen through the situation fairly quickly. Later, he would need to punish Nie Pian for his stupidity. Even though he was very helpful when it came to handling the financial aspect of the Blazing Swallow, if he caused this kind of problem, he was better off fired. But for the time being, Cao Yun was thinking of ways to get out of the current situation. His plans could not be thwarted because Weiji Nian's son couldn't get it up!

As he was trying to find a solution as fast as possible, the old man stepped forward. He kowtowed toward Cao Yun, Boss Gui and Weiji Nian. In fact, he slammed his head so hard on the ground that he almost split his skull open.

"This unfilial one is responsible for everything! This idiotic one didn't consult Lord Mo Yun and sold pills forged by incompetent alchemists. This senile old man offers his blood to appease Lady Weiji's wrath."

Hearing and seeing Nie Pian, there was absolutely no doubt that he was absolutely sincere. In fact, even Weiji Nian began to calm down. Thus, Miss Wo released her. But the woman was still enraged. Knowing that she couldn't act as she pleased in this situation, she stared at the old man.

"How can such weak excuses save my son? I demand Boss Gui to punish this old fool. I want you to pull out his tendons one by one, to flay him alive, to cut off his appendages, to burn his flesh, to boil his blood, to feed him to wild beasts. Then I will think about whether to further punish the Blazing Swallow or not. A shop can't hide behind its employee to justify the lack of competence of its leader. Mo Yun should have controlled his employees better than that!"

Once again, Boss Gui was in a bad position. Clearly, torturing Cao Yun's employee to death would impact their relationship. On the other hand, he had committed a crime. Although he had not deliberately poisoned Weiji Nian's son, she could make a case that he had. After all, everyone knew of the conflict between Cao Yun and Weiji Nian. It wouldn't be too hard to paint the situation as an assassination attempt in fact. In that case, the Nalupu Kingdom would probably investigate itself. In the worst scenario, Weiji Nian's uncle could come in person with a part of the army to deal with the situation. All that was happening because of a teenage boy trying to get it wet. This wasn't even funny...!

"Miss Weiji, I do understand your anger. However, do you want revenge, or do you want satisfaction?"

"What?!"

"My employee did wrong you. But if you bring it out in the open, imagine the ridicule your son will face. Such shame will also spread to you and even to your uncle. Your entire lineage would be embarrassed by this situation."

"Mo Yun...!"

In Weiji Nian's eyes, there was pure insanity. When it came to her son, she was unable to control herself in the least. However, this was precisely what Cao Yun was counting on. In fact, he had just realized how useful it would be in the future. She was related to a powerful general of the Napulu Kingdom and she was very easy to manipulate and even control. Before that, he had thought about killing her when she became too much of a nuisance. But thanks to Nie Pian's scam, he had realized that she could be much more useful than he had initially thought. However, he had to manage her first. For some time, she would be a threat until he was able to put a leash on her through her son.

"Miss Weiji, please hear me out. Although those pills are sorely lacking, my alchemy is not. I am absolutely confident that I can help heal your son completely and some more."

"You want me to let you experiment on my son?!"

"Would you prefer his condition to be made public and to stay all his life?"

"You...! How can I know you won't do anything worse to him? How am I supposed to trust you at all?"

"Simple enough. I can swear to disband my Blazing Swallow if I fail."

"Not enough! If you fail, I want to slaughter all of your employees and you will forfeit your life. Having you as a slave would be perfect."

"Lady Weiji!"

This time, Boss Gui couldn't stay silent. Cao Yun was her partner in business, humiliating him in such a manner was akin to humiliating her. Besides, she couldn't accept that such a great alchemist was enslaved by a woman connected to City Lord Sihe. Indeed, her husband was working for City Lord Sihe. If Cao Yun was enslaved by her, he would ultimately serve him and this would be a real problem to Boss Gui. Furthermore, he knew a lot about her own secrets. In fact, he knew enough to sentence her to death for her experiments with poison.

Of course, she wouldn't be sentenced to death but she would also become a slave to either City Lord Sihe or to Lord Wanghuo himself. Her business was too lucrative for the Nalupu Kingdom to be discarded so easily if they had a way to control it instead. By blackmailing her, they would indeed control it all. In other words, if Cao Yun was enslaved, he had to die. Boss Gui was starting to regret her alliance with Cao Yun. Maybe his uses were outnumbered by the potential risks he could unleash.

"Miss Gui, this isn't a problem at all. I am absolutely sure that I can resolve the issue."

To be honest, Cao Yun wasn't afraid of being enslaved. Considering his knowledge about seals, there was no one in the Desolate Sepulcher who could enslave him, not even City Lord Sihe. Although Dian Mo had told him to be cautious of this man, he clearly wouldn't be able to enslave Cao Yun. So even if he failed, he could disappear if need be. Of course, he had no intention either to fail or to let go of what he had already built. He had no time for such things. So he would resolve the stupid boy's problem. Besides, it was also a good opportunity to enter Weiji Nian's residence and to spy on her.

With his current strength, he couldn't do much against her. But he would lay the foundation for his future plans. To be honest, he was thinking those plans even as he was speaking with her. Those had not been imagined before, but Cao Yun knew how to adapt to the situation. Although his overall goal was the same, the fine details could change according to the changes around him. And right now, he had a good opportunity. Even if keeping Weiji Nian alive was a threat, killing her was also a threat as he would immediately be accused and that her uncle would probably come in person.

Paradoxically, leaving Weiji Nian alive for the time being was probably safer in the long run. And because of her inability to think when it came to her son, she would be a problem for her own allies more than she would be to Cao Yun. That being said, he wasn't underestimating her. So he would need to prepare himself for several scenarios.

As he was forced to think on the fly, Cao Yun was assaulted by many scenarios. He didn't like to deal with things he had not prepared for and he tended to overthink things. In fact, this was linked to what he perceived to be his worst flaw. Naturally, he wasn't proactive enough. Even if he had tried to change and act to reach his goal, he was afraid of falling back into a purely reactive role. Even if his plans weren't perfect, and even if he wasn't absolutely sure what the right thing to do was, he had to act because he wouldn't go back to his old ways. Waiting for his enemies to act or for the situation to change by itself were not viable solutions. He had to make the world change and to confront his enemies himself.

-

While Weiji Nian was still seething with rage, they all went to her residence. Obviously, this caught the eyes of many in the street even if it was rather late. Many rumors spread in the following days. But Boss Gui would deal with them in her common fashion. Besides, she would also publish an official statement to claim that they had met in order to move past their old grievances.

Once within Weiji Nian's residence, the young human took in every single detail. Of course, what interested him the most were the array formations. If ever he needed to sneak in the Weiji residence for some reason, he needed to have a perfect plan of the place while also knowing everything about the array formations. Once again, they were really not a problem to him. Still, they would take some time to completely overcome with his current cultivation. But if he absolutely needed to sneak into this place, this wouldn't be much of a challenge, especially if he broke through even further.

Finally, Weiji Nian brought Cao Yun to her son. She had summoned all of her guards in order to protect her son. If Cao Yun was doing anything slightly threatening, he would be dealt with. Because she was unable to think straight when her son was concerned, Weiji Nian had just revealed all her guards to both Cao Yun and Boss Gui. The young human had now a perfect understanding of her forces. Indeed, he couldn't deal with them right now, but knowing about them all was a huge help. In fact, he also noticed the guards who were under a Slavery Brand and the others. He had also noted that for the other servants.

At last, he faced Weiji Bao. The teenage boy seemed crushed by depression. Thanks to his mother, he had always obtained everything he had ever desired. Frustration was a very foreign and abstract concept to him. In all honesty, Cao Yun was pitying him. Even if he had grown in a relatively wealthy family, Cao Yun had not be spoiled in such a manner by his parents. Weiji Nian had not been helping her son at all by acting like that. In fact, it was possible that it was too late for him. However, Cao Yun had not enough compassion to care too much about Weiji Bao. After all, he had probably committed many crimes already, especially on his slaves.

Thinking about his condition, Cao Yun imagined what he had in mind when he used the pills. Very quickly, any compassion he could have had for him was gone. Although he was young, Weiji Bao seemed old enough in Cao Yun's eyes to be responsible for his own acts. He wouldn't be able to hide behind the inadequacies of his mother. Maybe Cao Yun was trying to justify his future actions. Even he wasn't too sure about it. But he wasn't a moralist and didn't claim to have a perfect understanding of what was just or not. However, there was no doubt in his mind that this world would be better off without this Weiji family.

While Weiji Bao was almost catatonic, he didn't resist Cao Yun at all. Besides, he had no way of resisting him considering the difference in their cultivation. That being said, Cao Yun didn't want to use force as he was surrounded by Weiji Nian's guards. He didn't want to give her any reason to complain. Thus, he took his wrist in his hand and read his pulse. With his intent and his spiritual senses, he was able to see deep within his bloodstream.

In a matter of seconds, Cao Yun had detected the medicinal essence and the toxins of the pills sold by his employee. Clearly, they had been terrible. Those alchemists had tried to refine high-grade pills but they had completely disregarded the problem of the toxins. They were incompetent alchemists, yet Nie Pian had hired them. Cao Yun would need to put things in place to deal with new hires. Maybe he could even have Dan Yao help with that. While Nie Pian was perfect for taking care of the books, Dan Yao could take over the alchemist part of things. Later, he would have Xixue restructure his Blazing Swallow. It had to be able to function without either of them since they wouldn't always be present. The branch in Ruohe was working very well. But their main shop in Duma City was facing such problems...

Anyway, it really wasn't difficult for Cao Yun to get rid of the toxins through the use of the Black Heart Flame. For a moment, he even hesitated to place a few seals in Weiji Bao. But he thought back to what Dian Mo had told him. There was a possibility for City Lord Sihe to discover his seals sooner or later. Thus he decided against it. He would find a better way to put a leash on Weiji Nian. Unfortunately, it would take some time during which she would not stop to be a threat to him. Hopefully though, she would calm down a little after Cao Yun had cured her son.

While Cao Yun was burning the toxins, some turbid air was leaving Weiji Bao's mouth and nose. Knowing what it meant, Weiji Nian was ecstatic. Once the toxins had been mostly eliminated, Cao Yun also decided to burn away the medicinal essence of the pills.